
There has been a long-standing debate around whose side the HR department
of an organisation is. While some believe that HR managers ultimately take the
company’s side, others are of the opinion that the HR department is formed
primarily to look after the needs of the employees.
However, neither of the two sides are completely right or wrong.
Over time, the focus of HR and its processes have changed to a great extent. It
has gradually shifted from the employers of an organization to its employees.
Gone are the days when employees felt helpless and confused even after
seeking HR support. In the age of digitization, employees are well aware of
their rights and importance within the organization they work in. Just like
marketing and sales processes revolve around the needs of the customers, HR
processes have started revolving around the need of the employees.
The Change In Employee Needs
Today, the needs of an employee are no longer limited to good remuneration
and promotion. A lot of factors come into play when an organization charts out
its HR policy. This has resulted in the HR department being responsible for
more than hiring and firing the employees.
Over time, HR professionals around the world have started focusing more on
catering to the evolving needs of employees as follows:
The Need For Greater Work Flexibility
The millennial and Gen-Z employees are no longer willing to follow the conventional 9-to-5 approach to work. Employees today need greater work flexibility to give their best. Especially after the COVID crisis that witnessed the
rise of online collaborative platforms, employees have realized the possibility
of a flexible and remote work schedule.
The Need For Quick And Personalized Support
Just like the support provided to the customers, companies have started
focusing on providing automated and personalized employee support. A study
conducted by Panopto showed how employee productivity can decline due to
inefficient knowledge management. By implementing automated HR help
desks and understanding the context of the issues faced by the employees,
organizations around the world have revamped their approach to HR to cater to their workers.
The Need For Efficient Onboarding
According to the research by Brandon Hall Group, efficient employee
onboarding can increase employee retention by 82%. Today, skilled and
capable employees have multiple alternatives when it comes to the
organizations they want to be associated with. If they do not feel comfortable
and welcomed enough during the first few weeks at work, they would prefer
switching companies. This has made HR managers around the world work on
their onboarding strategies, especially in the case of remote employees.
The Need To Feel Included
With more and more hybrid workplaces being set up across all major
industries, the approach to day-to-day work has changed. We now have teams
with employees working remotely and on-premise. This often makes remote
workers feel excluded and the on-premise workers overburdened. Keeping this
in mind, HR professionals have been striving to strike a balance between the
needs of all their employees and making them feel an integral part of the
corporate family.
Understanding The Importance Of The Most Prized Assets!
Over time, organizations have realized that employees are certainly the most
valuable assets they have. The productivity of an employee is directly related
to the overall productivity of the company they work for. Especially after
struggling through the rough patch of COVID, organizations have understood
that they cannot afford to lose these prized assets and should do everything
they can to cater to their needs.
This has resulted in the much-needed shift in the HR focus from the employers
to the employees. Today, almost every HR policy is decided considering the
employees to be the centre of the universe!
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